Salvation by What?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17 NKJV)

When speaking of salvation there are several schools of thought that are often referred to as an explanation for its cause; yet, there is only one right answer. But what is it?

Before identifying it I think it would be best to expose the fallacies that exist in some of the most commonly held beliefs about it. So let’s do that now!

Salvation by Works

Some believe that we are saved by works. But can this be true? Well, let’s think about it for a moment: to say that we are saved by works is to attempt to create a messiah out of the things that we do. This, of course, is nothing short of idolatry; and since God commands us to flee from idolatry, how can we be saved by what we are commanded to stay away from? ( 1Cor. 10:14)

Incidentally, the Bible is very clear on this matter as it states that it is:

not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, (Titus 3:5-6 NKJV)

Therefore, it is obvious that we are not saved by works!

Salvation by Faith Alone

There are those who say we are saved by faith. But I ask, where in the Bible does it say, ‘You are saved by faith’? It doesn’t say that anywhere! Granted, it does say that we are saved ‘through faith’; but the ideas of being saved ‘by faith’ and ‘through faith’ do not foster the same meaning. For, to say that we are saved by faith is to make faith the source of our salvation, whereas the expression, ‘through faith’, suggests that faith is but a means to salvation, not the source of it.

You see, when you say you are saved by faith you are making your faith the object of your salvation. But how can that be when faith must bring something into focus in order for it to exist? In other words, Christians exercise faith in the promise of Jesus Christ for salvation. That is the object of our faith! So it’s not faith that saves us; rather, it is the object of its focus that saves us. And that is the promise of Jesus Christ for salvation!

Hence, Jesus Christ is the object of our faith. He is the one who saves us. Not our faith. After all, if you say faith saves you, then what else are you really saying but that you have substituted Jesus Christ for faith as the source of your salvation?

By the way, why would Jesus save us anyway? Why would there even be an opportunity for sinful people to exercise faith in Him and thus be saved?

These questions are closely related to the answer of our original question of what saves us; and they will be answered a little later in this post.

Salvation by Faith and Works

There are those who believe that we are saved by faith and works. But if we can’t be saved by works or by faith, then how can we be saved by faith and works? To say that we are saved by faith and works is to suggest that God needs our help in order to save us. Thus, to some degree, it would still constitute salvation by works on our part as it would indicate that we would have to exercise something from ourselves in order to make up for something that God supposedly lacks within Himself to make salvation a reality for us.

But this can’t be true for the simple reason that God is omnipotent, which means He doesn’t need the help of anyone to create a means of salvation; He is more than capable of doing that on His own!

So if we are not saved by works, nor by faith, or by a combination of the two, then what are we saved by?

Exactly what the Bible tells us!

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Salvation by God’s Grace – The Only True Answer

Unfortunately, people have a tendency to interpret the expression, ‘through faith’, as being one and the same with the expression, ‘by grace’, and therefore conclude that it is by grace and faith that we are saved; but remember what I said about ‘by’ and ‘through’. They are not the same, because ‘by’ represents the ‘source’ of something while ‘through’ represents the ‘means to’ the source.

Therefore, it can’t be by grace and faith as then it would look like this: by grace and by faith. Thus both become the object or source of salvation. But that is not what the Bible says. The Bible says, ‘“by grace you have been saved through faith”. So there is only one object of salvation. Not two. So why then, would anyone say ‘by grace’ and ‘by faith‘ when the Bible says ‘by grace’ and ‘through faith’? Indeed, we must take the Holy Scriptures as they are and not superimpose meaning on them that isn’t there if we desire to understand what God really wants to tell us!

Incidentally, the act of exercising faith would not be possible if it weren’t for God speaking it into existence. For, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV) And since God doesn’t have to communicate with us, but does so freely out of love for us, God speaking to us is therefore an act of grace! What this means then, is that faith can not be equal to grace as faith is the result of it. Hence, grace not only precedes faith; it is the author of it. For by speaking, God makes faith possible!

With that being said, it is by God’s grace that we are saved, as faith is not the source of salvation, but rather the means to the source of our salvation. Thus faith, within this context, is the acknowledgment that an opportunity for salvation is present as a result of God’s grace.

Therefore, without grace faith has no purpose, as faith must look to something outside of itself in order for it to exist. And what does faith look to? It looks to what Jesus Christ accomplished by dying on the cross for us: that is, as a result of what He did for us, sinners, through faith in Jesus Christ, can be reconciled to God, justified in Christ, Sanctified in the Spirit, and glorified in Eternal Life! And all of this is the result of Grace! Hence, we are saved by God’s Grace!

If by Grace Why Not Save Everyone

If it is by grace that we are saved, then why wouldn’t God just save everyone? It is important to understand that because Love is, free will exists. For where there is no free will there is no love, but only tyranny. Moreover, free will is the result of grace, because if God gave humanity what it deserves we would have been wiped out long ago. In fact, we likely would not have been created at all (looking at things from the point of God’s omniscience). Nevertheless, that isn’t the case, because God has given humanity the opportunity to be reconciled to Him by exercising faith in Him who died for our sins: that is, Jesus Christ. So free will also exists as a result of grace.

It’s not that God doesn’t want to save everyone. Indeed, He desires that every human being would be saved. In fact, the scriptures make this point very clear!

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV)

But if He has this desire for all human beings, then what is preventing some from being saved?

The answer is simple: Their Choice!

Some will accept God while others will reject Him. Of course, that doesn’t mean He wants it to be this way. It just simply means that He gives people an opportunity to receive what they want. For that is the way of love; and love can’t be forced, but only received.

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:11-13 NKJV)

The Role of Works in Salvation

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV)

Notice how Paul used the expression, ‘prepared beforehand’. What this means is that anything that we do in the name of Jesus Christ that constitutes a good work, is the result of the power and influence of God working within our lives. Thus we can’t take any credit for anything good that comes out of us as it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God that we are able to produce good fruit.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5 NKJV)

Therefore, it isn’t possible to be saved by what we think to be ‘our’ good works; yet, it is impossible to be saved without good works, because the act of God saving us is, in itself, a good work; and this good work will result in His good works being manifested in and through us. In other words, the good works that we do are actually manifestations of the power and love of Jesus Christ working within us through the Holy Spirit. Hence, all the glory goes to God! For if it weren’t for Him we would do nothing but evil all the days of our lives.

Moreover, the good works which we do out of love for and in the name of Jesus Christ indicate that we are one with Him, as those who desire to be one with Him will walk in obedience to everything that He commands us to do.

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 NKJV)

Of course, this certainly throws out the idea of ‘cheap grace’, which is the belief that we can live as we please with impunity and still be saved by Jesus Christ. Such a belief is obviously false because it has nothing to do with exercising faith in God; rather, it is mere presumption that often results in acting in defiance against God’s Commandments! Indeed, those who are being saved are recreated in Christ Jesus for good works, not sinful indulgences!

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NKJV)

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7 NKJV)

Hence, faith without works is dead, and does not result in obtaining salvation. (James 2:20)

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV)

Putting It All Together

Now let’s sum it all up…

We are not saved by faith, nor by works, or even by a combination of the two; rather, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and will therefore demonstrate that salvation is present within us by living in obedience to His voice. (Php. 2:12).

Indeed, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I am not ashamed to share it with you, because,

“it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16 NKJV)

Do you believe it? If so, what are you doing to show the world what it means to walk in salvation?

Some arguments have been raised against my refutation of ’salvation by faith’ as disclosed in this article.  If you would like to see how I address those arguments you can find my response to them starting here: The Preeminence of Grace – Part One